<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Strange and Beautiful Stars by reylocmv</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22945882">Strange and Beautiful Stars</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/reylocmv/pseuds/reylocmv'>reylocmv</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, HEA, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, World Between Worlds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:15:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,134</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22945882</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/reylocmv/pseuds/reylocmv</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey goes to the World Between Worlds and Brings Ben back!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Reylo Charity Anthology: Volume 2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Strange and Beautiful Stars</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u">Strange and Beautiful Stars</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>She’s dreaming again.</p><p>
  <em>Rey walks onward, fighting against a strong wind with a will set against her own. It pushes against her with a spirit as committed to stopping her progress as she is to maintaining it. She continues, careful not to stray from the path. It’s almost invisible in the dark shadows that surround her. Invisible hands brush against her arms on either side and what she had at first taken for tree branches, she’s no longer so confident to identify. She’s afraid, but she lets the fear flow through her. She remembers Leia during a training session, explaining to her that a Jedi’s courage doesn’t come from the absence of fear, but rather from the ability to channel that fear through the light side of the force.  To make it something stronger; a determination to do right. Rey knows what she’s doing is right. That knowledge is all she needs to keep going. She sees something ahead to finally break up the unending darkness. The path forks in two and she pauses, deciding on a direction. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Before she can decide her course of action, she hears the tell-tale hiss of a lightsaber igniting. Her vision fills with red. As seems to always be the case in her dreams now, she sees not one but two red lightsabers have ignited to block her path. One she has seen too many times. Unstable, with a dangerous cross guard and a menacing energy. It’s held by a dark creature in a mask. This figure has haunted her dreams from the moment she touched the Skywalker lightsaber on Takodana. She can almost ignore that one now as she’s become so familiar with the nightmare visage. She knows his story and what he will become, the mask before her holds no power over her anymore. Rey looks beside him to the vision who stands proud beside him. Long black robes, a mocking mirror of what Rey wears now and a red bladed saber-staff that mimics her own golden one. She only appeared after Exegol and she is the one Rey must contain her fear of. This one has seemingly followed Rey from the ruins of the Death Star and now joins her dark lover in Rey’s nightmares. Taunting her with all that she could have had if she chosen a different path.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>As she does every night that sends her down this same route, Rey draws her own lightsaber and ignites it. The golden glow illuminates the path brighter than the red alone could. The fight begins almost as if in slow motion; and while two against one should make her the underdog this isn’t a real fight, only a dream after all. It’s always the same and if there is a way to change this, she hasn’t found it yet.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> She strikes down the apparition of Kylo Ren first, shuddering as she always does at the feeling of her lightsaber piecing through his abdomen. She then turns to face her dark self. They are too well matched and the fight stretches. This time something does shift. At first it seems like just another small variation in the dream sequence, but suddenly Rey sees an opening she’s never had before and just as suddenly she’s staring down into her own lifeless face. It gazes blankly back up at her. Rey turns off her lightsaber and looks around. She’s never defeated the dark twosome before, and the shock of it doesn’t feel all that different to what the horror of losing to them had felt like.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The path is still dark but the whispers have grown softer. There is now only stillness along the sides of the path. When she looks up, Rey sees a sky full of bright white stars that feel strangely familiar. She suddenly feels hopeful. It fills up all the empty corners of her soul that have been barren these months since Ben disappeared. She thinks she hears a familiar voice start to speak but before she can understand the words, she wakes up.</em>
</p><p>Rey sits up on the small cot she’s been sleeping on. She’s slept late, judging by the sun’s place in the sky. She came back to Tatooine days ago in the hopes that she might find the spirits of Luke or Leia and find guidance on what her purpose is. She’s had no luck, and neither have shown up.  She thinks back to her dream last night. This dream has been a regular companion for months, but last night was different. She still feels the remnants of the hope she’d felt as she looked up at the starry sky above her.</p><p>She’s risen and is stretching loose the knots in her back when she’s startled by a voice breaking the silence of the desert abode.</p><p>“You did it Rey.”</p><p>Rey spins and sees the pale force vision of Leia, thin in the bright sunlight.</p><p>“Leia,” she says, feeling relief filling her and confusion as Leia’s words sink in. “Wait – What have I done?”</p><p>Leia smiles. “You found your hope again. You’ve had so much you needed to face Rey. After what happened…. You’ve been so sad and you’ve felt so lonely. We couldn’t help you. We’ve had to stay away and let you face your demons alone.”</p><p>“The dreams,” Rey has known they were never ordinary dreams but rather visions brought by the force. “They were a test?”</p><p>“The force doesn’t always move us down the path we want to take, but rather it directs us down the one we need to follow. I know you want to bring Ben back and I want that too, but after everything that happened with Palpatine, a path was set for you these last few months. As I said, you found your hope again Rey. Your spirit has strengthened and healed and now you’re ready to take the journey to bring my son back.”</p><p>“What do I do now?” Rey asks.</p><p>But if a jedi is frustratingly vague in life, the force ghost of a jedi is only more so and Rey’s only answer from Leia as she fades away is a gently whisper.</p><p>“You have everything you need.”</p><p>Rey stares at the empty space for a moment. <em>Hope</em>, she realizes with sudden clarity. That’s everything she needs. She has an idea how to bring Ben back and now she also knows that she can do it.</p><p>She packs her things and leaves the homestead. She boards the Falcon, parked nearby and readies the ship. She charts a course to Ahch-To. Now that her purpose is clear she has no need to wait. She knows what she needs to do.</p><p>As the ship comes out of orbit Rey looks at the clouds blanketing the planet<em>. Surprise, surprise</em>, she thinks<em>, it’s raining</em>. She doesn’t mind the rain and in fact she normally loves it, but at the moment, she is not in the mood to be honest with herself and therefore she most decidedly does not enjoy the rain today. The long flight here has brought her mood down. Her optimism has faded and she’s feeling less confident. It’s cold here today. She thinks it must be winter on the planet. The rain is icy and coming down hard. The sea reflects her mood, she thinks, as she watches the waves roll in the distant sea. She lands in the same place she had the last time she was here and takes in the island from the cockpit window.</p><p>After a lifetime on a desert planet there are few places in the galaxy that ever feel warm enough and coming straight from Tattooine, Rey’s not dressed for this weather. Even if she hates sand, the heat has become a part of who she is. She looks over to a nest built near the cliff’s edge. Even the porgs don’t like this weather. They’re huddled down in groups, snuggled tightly against each other, sharing their warmth between them. Rey feels her heart stutter at the sight. The connection, the warmth of another presence she hadn’t realized was always with her until it was suddenly gone. That’s the reason she’s cold and can’t get warm, why she finds herself drawn to desert planets even after she promised herself she’d never live on another one. The heat from <em>His</em> emotions had been warming her without her even realizing it and now she’s so very cold and sometimes she feels like she’ll never be warm again.</p><p><em>Be with me</em>. she whispers in her head. <em>Be. With. Me. </em></p><p>The words echo unanswered in her mind for the thousandth time and Rey fights the wave of emotions they bring. Eventually she feels the light side of the force fill her with the calm and peace she desperately needs.</p><p>Rey thinks about everything she’s learned about her situation. She’s studied the Dyad and read the words the ancient jedi had written about something her own body could tell anyone in even better detail. Half of her soul is missing. She will never be whole until she has reunited with her other half. Now that she’s here on Ahch-To she’s ready to meet her destiny head on.</p><p>She shakes her head, dispelling the memories that are trying to drown her. They’re like the waves against the shore of the island; violent and without thought. They are merciless; beating against a broken shore, eroding the land, uncaring. The difference now is that she is here with hope. That’s something she thought was lost for so long.</p><p>She’s spent the trip here reading the ancient texts with new purpose. She’s found something in those old books, a clue, a thread that if she’s lucky will unwind its way to the answers she needs to bring Ben Solo home to her.</p><p>Rey’s impatient to get started but an instinct tells her she needs to wait until morning. The sunrise is for rebirth after all. She settles down to try and sleep. She’s not tired but she knows she’s going to need her strength for what she hopes to do tomorrow.</p><p>Rey dreams a new dream tonight.</p><p>
  <em>She’s standing in darkness but she’s surrounded by an infinite sky of bright white stars. She follows the path the force had laid out before her. White ripples flow from her footsteps as she walks the path ahead. Around her she can hear voices echoing in the nothingness. Some she thinks she recognizes; others are strangers to her. They are speaking stories of both the past and the future. Some she knows, most she doesn’t. She passes doorways on either side, but where they lead, she cannot see. The images inside them blur and race, confusing her mind if she tries to look too closely. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>She continues on. The force is guiding her to the portal she needs to find. She walks on and on. The paths are endless and twisting, too confusing to map and Rey knows that only with the force as her guide will she ever navigate this strange place. She stops suddenly. She feels a whisper of air across the back of her neck and Ben’s voice speaking the words that have haunted her since childhood. Words he’s never said to her but she wishes he would have.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’ll come back for you sweetheart, I promise.”</em>
</p><p>Rey wakes with the renewed optimism only the morning can bring. She’s bringing Ben Solo back today. Today she is going to finally walk the paths of her dreams awake, ready to reclaim her destiny and fix the Dyad the force created between them.</p><p>When the sun’s first purple shades begin to colour the sky, Rey readies herself and begins her journey up to the first jedi temple. Entering the temple, she sees nothing has changed since she last was here. The caretakers truly are such, and they do their job well.</p><p>Looking at the floor, to the mosaic tile of the Prime Jedi, as the books she’s taken from the library have thus named it, she can’t help but find a certain humor in the discovery that this simple mosaic that she’d taken only as decoration is in fact a key reason for the temple itself. She believes she’s finally cracked the messages, both from the ancient Jedi texts and her dreams. Rey is certain that the mosaic is the key to saving Ben. If she’s put the pieces together correctly then this mosaic is actually a doorway. An entrance to the place she dreams of night after night and the path that leads her soulmate.</p><p>Her mind is racing. Rey needs to calm herself and focus. She sits near the mosaic, cross-legged and rests her hands gently on her knees. Her mind goes where it always goes when it is at rest and while the memory is haunting, she has learned over the past few months that if she doesn’t allow it a chance to play out, nothing else can come after.</p><p>
  <em>She gasps awake and out of blackness. At first Rey doesn’t know where she is. She doesn’t have time to collect her thoughts before she sees the face of the man who is cradling her in his arms. She gazes at him and at the same time, through their bond she can feel the glow of the light side that fills him now. The love that pours from his eyes fills her soul up with the belonging she’s been searching for since she was a child. “Ben,” she says, almost a question but not. She can see it’s him. Kylo Ren is truly gone and Ben Solo came back to the light. He came back for her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her joy is all encompassing and overwhelming. For the first time in their tempestuous relationship they are themselves. The two who are one. Perfectly balanced between each other and in the greater force. Rey looks at this man who she has felt every possible and bizarre combination of feelings for and with the clarity brought by their balance in the force knows that whatever else is true, she loves him as deeply and passionately as anyone has ever loved in all the galaxy. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>With that thought flowing between them, she grasps his face and leans in to kiss him. He returns her kiss and for that brief moment they exist as one. The force itself lights up with their connection. She breaks the kiss to look at him again, she wants to know what happened while her world had gone black. She’s has begun to sense that Ben is injured, and badly. They need to get out of here and get help. As she’s thinking all these things, she feels a flutter of panic from Ben across their bond. He drops to the ground and it takes all her strength to soften his fall. Then before she can even process what is happening, he fades to nothing in front of her eyes. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Now it’s her confusion that’s all encompassing. He’s gone but…he’s not. Rey can’t feel him as strongly and clearly as she could a moment ago but she can still feel him. A small flutter in the back of her mind, only there if she focuses on it. Panic and fear fill her as her brain screams at her that he’s dead, he’s gone and any reasonable person can see that; but at the same time Rey knows all these things are true, she can still feel him and if she can feel Ben in the Force she can find him again. Somehow. Somewhere. Sometime.</em>
</p><p><em>Her attention is drawn to the building around her and its imminent collapse. She needs to leave and get somewhere safe. She needs to find her friends. She can’t save Ben if she is injured, so she lets the force guide her back to her ship and gets to safety. It’s only later that the enormity of what has happened hits her</em> <em>and the pain of her loss finally settles into her bones.</em></p><p> As Rey lets these memories pour through her, the calm she seeks finally comes. She finds clarity and hope in her purpose. She’s here to bring her soulmate back to her and with a lifetime experience in patience and perseverance on her side, she’s ready to finally make it happen.</p><p>Centered and ready, Rey looks again at the Prime Jedi. From what she’s learned in the texts, opening the portal isn’t about using strength or skill. It’s a conversation with the force. She needs to find her connection to the Cosmic Force and together they will find this world between worlds where she hopes to find Ben.</p><p>She’s so focused on her internal self she almost misses the moment the mosaic begins to shift. The water that filled the shallow bowl draining out. Once it begins it happens quickly. The small tiles rearrange themselves and a black hole is now there, large enough for her to climb through.</p><p>While the thought of jumping blindly feet first into the unknown isn’t her first choice of action she doesn’t hesitate. She trusts in the force and that this is where she needs to go. Jumping down she lands sooner than expected and is both surprised and not to discover herself on the pathway she’s dreamt of, white ripples flowing from where her feet have landed.</p><p>Rey looks around trying to sense what direction she should walk. She hears an echo that sounds like Maz Kanata telling her “the belonging you seek is not behind you, but ahead…”. She decides that advice is as good as she is going to get so she simply continues forward in the direction she landed in.</p><p>She comes to a portal on her left. It draws her attention and when she looks in, this time, unlike in her dreams, she can see into it. It’s Takodana and Kylo Ren is holding her frozen, red lightsaber threatening her. She watches the scene play out. She watches as he uses the force to push her into unconsciousness. She sees the man she’d thought a monster scoop her up in his arms. His tender embrace so at odds with the situation but also unsurprising to Rey knowing where the future will lead them.</p><p>That wasn’t the doorway she needs, but she’s optimistic she’s on the right path as she continues past portals to familiar scenes of her past. She slows her pace when she reaches a portal showing her the two of them before Snoke, she’s held stiffly in place, while Ben kneels a few feet behind her. She watches the scene play out. Even as she itches to move faster there is something compelling about watching this particular moment. Rey feels tears forming as she watches the younger version of herself beg Ben to come away with her. She’d believed with her whole heart that he would turn then. She still doesn’t fully understand why he didn’t, but she hopes to someday. She pulls herself away while they are still battling over the lightsaber. Holding on to the past and searching for meaning in it has always been a weakness of hers but she doesn’t have time for that now.</p><p>There is a doorway that seems to glow brighter than the others. This is it. This is her chance. She planned to take a moment to focus herself and visualize her plan before she starts. Rey’s studied how the doorways work and there is no way to do this without changing the past. So, while she trusts in the force, she knows she needs to get it right the first time. Unfortunately, as soon as she nears the portal the images fill her senses and she doesn’t have time to take a breath before the moment is upon her.</p><p>Rey watches herself, observes as she crosses the lightsabers and Palpatine is destroyed. She watches as she falls to the ground, eyes open, death staring back. She’s never seen this part of their story and it’s horrible to watch. A sound draws her eyes towards the pit Ben had been tossed down and her heart clenches seeing the pain in his face. It takes all her willpower to hold herself back from leaping towards him but she knows for this too work, the past has to play out as it had before. If she’s dead she can’t save him.  Rey watches Ben limp, broken and scared, over to her body. She watches through the tears she can’t hold back as he cradles her and holds her. Rey sees the moment he decided to pour his own life force into her. She watches as she wakes up and sees Ben, all the emotions as still so potent and fresh.</p><p>Rey tenses as she watches herself lean in to kiss Ben. This is it. She needs to be ready. She hates to interrupt them, but time is short. It’s a simple jedi trick to send a stone clattering behind that Rey’s back and when she sees herself turn startled at the noise; she uses the force to pull Ben through the portal into this world between worlds with her. He’s already losing consciousness and she doesn’t think, but immediately begins using the force to heal him. She stops when she feels his life force stabilize. She can still sense injuries in him, but there’s nothing now that won’t heal.</p><p>He isn’t awake but he’s alive and he’s here with her. He looks so young when he sleeps. All the years of anger, resentment, pain and jealousy seem to slip away. She hesitates to wake him up. The fear that this face will disappear into the mask he held onto for so long still fresh and not easy to shake, but she can’t put this off, and it will be easier if she doesn’t need to carry him.</p><p>Rey takes a moment to look back into the portal and sees herself in tears. Two memories of this moment exist side by side now. She remembers both Ben disappearing and turning back from hearing a noise to find him already gone. She knows that the Rey she sees will still end up here where she is now. She is relieved to know has not changed that Rey’s future path. She suspects that she’s always felt him because she was always meant to save him.</p><p>Rey looks at Ben for a moment, soaking in the sight of him before she gently nudges his shoulder. She sends a gentle burst of force energy along with it to try help him wake up. Her heart is pounding so fast she feels it in her throat.</p><p>“Ben” she whispers, her voice an uncertain mixture of fear and hope.</p><p>He stirs and Rey watches as his eyelids flutter slowly open. He leaps to his feet, moving with a lifetime of instinct, knocking Rey back on her heels.  She watches him reach for his lightsaber out of habit, when his hand finds nothing, he looks around, taking in his surroundings. His gaze snags on Rey and she watches his eyes widen.</p><p>“Rey?” he says, his voice, soft and filled with confusion.  She sees the moment all of his memories come flooding back. She watches as understanding fills his eyes.</p><p>“Rey” he says again and this time there is no question in his voice.</p><p>He reaches a hand down to help her up off her the ground but Rey jumps up on her own. She takes half a step towards him but feels shy all of a sudden. Have they ever had a conversation that wasn’t charged full of all that was standing between them?</p><p>Ben’s hand is still reaching out to help her stand. How many times has he reached out to her before? But this is Ben Solo and not Kylo Ren so she does what she has always wanted to do each time before and she puts her hand in his. She’s been waiting for Ben Solo to return for almost as long as she’s known this man and she wants to feel his living flesh against hers without death standing between them. When their hands meet, she feels the connection that’s always been there, fall solidly into place.</p><p> “Ben,” she asks breathlessly, “How do you feel?”</p><p>She can see him thinking. He takes everything so seriously and she can tell he’s looking internally to figure out how he does, in fact feel, before he answers her. When he finally does speak, instead of answering her question, he looks around and asks his own.</p><p>“Where are we?”</p><p>She sees his eyes drift towards the doorway she’d pulled him from. She follows his gaze to where she is still visible, crying on the empty floor and Rey’s heart clenches. “Ben, don’t look,” Rey tells him. “You don’t need to see that. It’s over.”</p><p>She hates the way Ben’s face shutters itself.  He watches for another moment before turning away from the portal and back to Rey. They’re still holding hands so she tugs him and they begin walking. Ben’s eyes are darting everywhere.</p><p>The pathway back to Ahch-To lays clearly ahead. She leads Ben towards it. It feels strange having him so compliant, but she allows for his being somewhat confused. It has been a strange few months. They reach the last portal on this path and Rey can see the Jedi Temple waiting for them beyond. She takes a calming breath and leads Ben through it. They immediately tumble sideways, sprawling out on the floor of the Jedi temple as they are reoriented back into this plane of existence.</p><p>Ben was behind her so of course he’s now on top of her, crushing the air from her lungs. He rolls off of her quickly and they both hop up to standing. She catches the last of the mosaic pieces fitting themselves back into the shape of the Prime Jedi.</p><p>Rey looks over at Ben, standing beside her and taking in his surroundings.</p><p>“Ben,” Rey says reaching up to press her hand against his cheek.</p><p>He looks down at her and she doesn’t hesitate this time. She leans in and presses her lips against his. She smiles into the kiss as she feels him kiss her back. She knows they should probably stop kissing and get moving but this is the first time the two of them have ever had the chance to just be, and she wants to enjoy it. Rey knows she shouldn’t be greedy but just this once she wants to be. She pulls back for just a moment to look at Ben’s face again. She thinks he must feel the same as she does. He holds her face between his hands and just looks at her. A smile breaks over his face and it’s the most beautiful thing Rey has ever seen.</p><p>She leans back in and hugs him tightly, wrapping her arms around his middle and sinking her face into his chest.</p><p>“You’re back,” she whispers more to herself then to him. “You’re here...you’re here. Promise me this time you won’t leave me again.”</p><p>Ben pulls back to look Rey in the eyes. “I didn’t want to leave you.” He tells her with his usual simple honesty. “I don’t want to leave you now.”</p><p>He takes a breath and pauses, wanting to explain himself even when deep down they both know that any explanations can only be found in the force.</p><p>“I had to save you Rey,” his voice breaks as he relives the moment.</p><p>“You were dead. You were gone Rey. I could feel it, and I had try to bring you back. You deserve to live and I couldn’t…I couldn’t live if you didn’t. All I knew in that moment is that you needed to live, no matter what the cost.”</p><p>“You saved me.” She tells him with a smile that breaks as she remembers too. “But you left me alone Ben. We’re meant to be together,” She smiles a little as she waves her hand between them, “A dyad in the force, remember?”</p><p>He caresses her cheek gently, “I won’t apologize for saving your life.”</p><p>“How did I come back?” he asks.</p><p>“I had to find you.” She tells him. “After you disappeared,” Rey’s voice chokes on the last word “I could still feel you, faintly, like an itch at the back of my mind, and I knew, <em>I knew</em> you were out there somewhere. If you were really dead, I’d know it.”</p><p>She gestures around, “This place, it’s the first jedi temple. It’s where I found Luke. Over in another spot on the island there was a library. It was filled with ancient Jedi texts. I’ve been studying them looking for a clue. They knew about the pathways.  That place where we were, it’s like a world between worlds. This image, it’s a doorway to get there.”</p><p>She sees Ben taking in everything she says. He’s nodding as he listens to her story.</p><p>“The ancient lore was something I enjoyed during my Jedi training and after Snoke was destroyed I continued again with my studies in Force history. I hadn’t heard much of this world between worlds but I know enough of the force to know that it fits.” He tells her.</p><p>Rey reaches the part where she pulled Ben through the portal and Ben follows the thread of her story closely. He’s clearly very interested in the mechanics of what she’s done to bring him back.</p><p>“Yes, the timing would need to be perfect.” He murmurs. Rey can see he’s running it in his head, following the steps she needs to follow for himself.</p><p>“But you did it.” He tells her.</p><p>“It looks like it.” Rey answers with a smile. The longer they stand here talking the more confident she’s becoming that it worked. That he’s not about to disappear again without warning.</p><p>Ben smiles tentatively at her. “What happens now?”</p><p>“Honestly, I haven’t thought about it.” Rey tells him. “Just getting here has taken every spare moment of the last few months. I didn’t dare imagine beyond it.”</p><p>Ben’s face crinkles in confusion. “Months?” he asks and Rey can feel through their connection his distress that he was gone for so long. She can’t help but feel defensive that she wasn’t able to get him back sooner.</p><p>“You might find it easy to travel between dimensions but it takes time for some of us to figure it out!” she pouts.</p><p>Ben leans in and kisses her again and Rey decides it’s his way of acknowledging she’s right without admitting to it so she chooses to let it go and kisses him back. Before she is ready for him to be finished his apology, Ben pulls away from her and his expression is serious.</p><p>“I don’t want to fight anymore, Rey.” He tells her.</p><p>“I don’t want to fight with you either.” She answers sincerely. She has a feeling they are both too temperamental to <em>never </em>fight, but she knows going forward they will always be fighting for each other and that means they will always be on the same side.</p><p>Ben huffs in frustration. “Not just fighting with you.” He rolls his eyes. We’re past that now.  </p><p>“I don’t want to fight a war anymore.” He explains. “I want to find peace somewhere. I’m done trying to bring order to a galaxy that doesn’t want it. My whole life, for as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a pawn in someone else’s game. I’m done. I want to live for myself,” he looks deep into her eyes, “and for you.”</p><p>“There’s not much of a war left to fight now.” Rey tells him. “I mean, I think there will always be fighting if you go looking for it, but as for the Resistance and the First Order, the fighting is mostly done now. I think most of the work rebuilding the galaxy is being done by the politicians.” She smiles up at him, still gazing into his eyes, “and you and I are not politicians.”</p><p>She can see that Ben agrees. He may have been the Supreme Leader of the First Order but he didn’t rule with politics, but through fear and intimidation. Rey likes Ben’s idea. She doesn’t want to fight either. She can imagine them somewhere green and verdant. Practicing the force, maybe teaching others. Not the Jedi or the Sith. Something else.</p><p>“I have an idea.” Ben says. She can see the thoughts running across his expressive face. “It’s been a long time; but I know where we should go.”</p><p>They leave the temple and head back to the Falcon hand in hand. Rey can see the emotions on Ben’s face as well as read them through the force as they board the ship. Being on the Falcon again means something to him that he can’t put into words. Rey can feel that it brings a strange, messy sort of peace to him. Another part of Ben seems to be healing in a way that neither of them could have predicted.</p><p>They spend a couple of extra days on Ahch-To so Ben can rest and finish healing. They talk a lot. Rey sees how much misunderstanding and pain has been wedged between them and it feels good to clear the air now. They experiment with the bond between them. She spent her whole life feeling alone or abandoned and now that she is reunited with the other half of her soul she understands where some of that sense of loss stemmed from. Ben tells her he feels it too. He suspects that it’s a part of why he had always felt so unbalanced. Why he was so easily manipulated. They needed each other for each of them to ever feel whole.</p><p>When Ben is feeling stronger, they leave Ahch-To. Rey didn’t know how long she’d be on the island so the Falcon is well stocked. When he tells her where they are going and why she is filled with such a sense of rightness. She’s never been to Naboo but when he tells her about it, it sounds perfect.</p><p>They arrive when the sun is just peaking over the mountain tops and the view from the cockpit takes Rey’s breath away. It’s the most beautiful planet she’s ever seen.</p><p>“Ben,” she tells him, “It’s beautiful.”</p><p>“It is,” he says, looking over at her with a smile. The look in his eyes as he watches her for a moment makes her blush. Then she’s watching him as he focuses on landing the ship and while he seems unaware of her gaze, she sees the tips of his ears have reddened and she knows she’s not alone in how she feels. They coast over the cityscape of Theed, past it into the countryside. Rey looks over it all, impressed with the beauty she sees below.</p><p>They finally land in a small hanger and depart the Falcon. Rey takes a deep breath. The air here feels rich and full of life and she can see why Ben wanted to come here. She follows him as he leads the way. He’s confident in where he’s taking them and seems to already know the way. They come to a beautiful building with views of a stunning lake with breathtaking waterfalls, that surpass anything Rey has yet seen.</p><p>“This is the Lake District. This place is called Varykino” Ben tells her. “My grandmother’s family lived here for a time. My grandparents were married here. My…my mother brought me here once when I was a boy. It’s always felt special somehow.”</p><p>He’s reciting facts, something Rey notices he does when he’s nervous.</p><p>“This place is stunning,” she tells him reassuringly. “I can hardly believe it’s real. I feel like I could stay by this lake and get lost in its beauty forever.”</p><p>The breeze is blowing softly and Rey feels calm and at peace.  Ben was right, this is where they were meant to be.</p><p>He turns to her and smiles tentatively. “I think we’re home.”</p><p>“I do too.” She tells him.</p><p>They stroll around the building, stopping when they come to a lovely stone railing overlooking the lake. As they gaze at the water with the future bright in their eyes, Rey feels the force flow between her and Ben. The ghosts of the past seem to be smiling down on them.  She imagines the two young lovers, who had perhaps once stood in this very spot, full of the same hopes and dreams she has now, only to have one them fall to the darkness. She hopes they will finally find peace and rest with the knowledge that her and Ben’s future is safe and secure in the light.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>